back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 8.21.2022
00:15:32.000 |
Beginning with the facility changes, you might have noticed, 00:15:35.000 |
we are going to be used as an overflow room in the coming weeks. 00:15:39.000 |
And so just the two big things to remember is that the cafe is now there. 00:15:44.000 |
So you guys can hang out there and we can spend some time there. 00:15:47.000 |
But also starting next week, we're going to be closing the outdoor service. 00:15:50.000 |
And there will be an overflow room where the old cafe used to be. 00:15:54.000 |
And so please keep that in mind as those changes are going to be pretty big. 00:15:59.000 |
And then secondly, a parking note for Kimco Parking. 00:16:02.000 |
Kimco Parking is the parking lot that's right behind the cafe. 00:16:08.000 |
They've been very gracious to us to allow us to be parking there. 00:16:11.000 |
But we cannot park in the electric charging stations. 00:16:15.000 |
And we shouldn't be using the electric charging stations either. 00:16:18.000 |
And also, we need to avoid parking in front of the garages and 00:16:22.000 |
the entryways, because they might need to access those. 00:16:28.000 |
And the only final thing there is we want to prevent the double parking. 00:16:34.000 |
If you have any additional questions about that, you can ask. 00:16:36.000 |
Or I'm sure the parking ministry, they're all very aware of it. 00:16:41.000 |
Today, our spiritual development courses are beginning. 00:16:44.000 |
The OT survey with Pastor Peter Chung will be in the sanctuary. 00:16:48.000 |
And then the Bible Lab, Pastor Mark is going to be doing that in the new cafe conference room. 00:16:57.000 |
So please look for that room, and it will be held there. 00:17:00.000 |
The Second Peter Bible Study will begin not this Wednesday, but the following Wednesday. 00:17:08.000 |
And then three other just real quick announcements here. 00:17:12.000 |
The Intentional Sisters Fellowship, the Family Ministry Community Groups, 00:17:16.000 |
and the BAM Summer Retreat, these are all coming up. 00:17:19.000 |
If you have questions about it, all the information is there for you in the app. 00:17:27.000 |
Today, we're going to be having a baptism following the praise. 00:17:34.000 |
Now let me go ahead and pray for our offering as we continue in worship. 00:17:45.000 |
As we give our offerings to you, I pray that it would be so much more. 00:17:49.000 |
Father, help us to remember that you have always wanted all of our hearts. 00:17:53.000 |
And God, whatever it is that has been manifesting in our lives, 00:17:58.000 |
Lord, that this would be a great opportunity for us to again in humble surrender before you, 00:19:20.000 |
Lord, you're calling me to come and behold the wondrous cross 00:19:29.000 |
to explore the depths of grace, king to me at such a cost. 00:19:37.000 |
Where your boundless love conquered my boundless sin 00:19:53.000 |
My heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary. 00:20:02.000 |
With every breath, Lord, how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me. 00:20:10.000 |
Lord, take me deeper into the glories of Calvary. 00:20:36.000 |
Sinners find eternal joy in the triumph of your wounds. 00:20:44.000 |
By our Savior's crimson flow, holy wrath has been removed. 00:20:52.000 |
And your saints below join with your saints above. 00:21:08.000 |
My heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary. 00:21:17.000 |
With every breath, Lord, how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me. 00:21:24.000 |
My heart is filled, my heart is filled with a thousand songs 00:21:34.000 |
With every breath, Lord, how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me. 00:21:42.000 |
Lord, take me deeper into the glories of Calvary. 00:22:26.000 |
Wonderful, merciful Savior, precious Redeemer and friend. 00:22:36.000 |
Who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men? 00:22:54.000 |
Counselor, comforter, keeper, spirit we long to embrace. 00:23:11.000 |
You offer hope when our hearts are hopelessly lost away. 00:23:37.000 |
You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for. 00:24:01.000 |
Almighty, infinite Father, faithfully loving your own. 00:24:12.000 |
Here in our weakness you find us, falling before your throne. 00:24:39.000 |
You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for. 00:25:05.000 |
You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for. 00:25:43.000 |
My name is Millie, and I'm currently an MA at Colorado office. 00:25:47.000 |
So my introduction to God and faith was with the Catholic Church. 00:25:51.000 |
With that, I attend church very often and was pretty much involved with everything from Bible study, retreats, volunteers, and whatever happened, I'll be there. 00:26:00.000 |
However, I grew up in a broken home and still currently am. 00:26:07.000 |
My mom then cut tie with my dad's side just because they did not treat her very well. 00:26:13.000 |
Living at my mom's side of the family wasn't great either because of the constant fight with her and my grandpa. 00:26:20.000 |
When I turned 10, we decided to move to Boston. 00:26:23.000 |
It was going to -- it was very hard going to church since, you know, it's pretty much very Caucasian, and there was like no Vietnamese community there for us, and we did not speak much English to attend a white church. 00:26:39.000 |
We did find a church about a half an hour away, and sometimes we would have to walk there. 00:26:44.000 |
I also did my best to go to Bible study and pray regularly, whatever it takes, because, you know, I still believe that God is out there somewhere, and he'll give us the strength to move on. 00:26:56.000 |
Everything was going decently well until there was a betrayal in my family, and my mom lost all her money. 00:27:02.000 |
She was devastated, but mom didn't retaliate and told me that as a child of God, we are not allowed to harm others. 00:27:11.000 |
She scraped whatever she can and moved us to California. 00:27:15.000 |
Being a single mom with two girls is a lot of luggage for her to carry, but she tried to best and, you know, raise us the right Catholic way. 00:27:24.000 |
When she met now my stepdad, I told myself that God has finally answered our prayers, since mom can finally put everything aside and finally have the life that she fully deserved. 00:27:38.000 |
Little did I know, my whole world became pitch black when he tried to sexually assault me, not once, but multiple times. 00:27:49.000 |
I was also assaulted by my neighbor shortly after, and I was only 14 years old then. 00:27:55.000 |
No one, absolutely no one, believed something like that would happen to me, especially my own mom. 00:28:04.000 |
I hated her for that, and what was this, I began to resent the God who's supposed to protect me. 00:28:09.000 |
I felt abandoned by him and completely lost my faith. 00:28:13.000 |
I became rebellious and ran away for weeks from home, numerous times. 00:28:20.000 |
Furthermore, my mood changed drastically, and I started exhibiting signs of depression and became suicidal, to the point I thought, "This is my last day here, and I'm definitely going to hell." 00:28:32.000 |
But I didn't care. My life was already a living hell anyway. It can't get worse than this. 00:28:37.000 |
While life took an unexpected turn, at my lowest point, I realized I needed help, and I sent a help calling loudly from no other than God himself. 00:28:46.000 |
With no other place to turn, I went to church, a Christian church. 00:28:49.000 |
I really felt that I was being renewed again in a cleaner body. 00:28:53.000 |
I began to read the Bible, pray more with consistency, and really dive into his teaching. 00:28:59.000 |
God really drew me to him, so I confessed that I am a sinner and that I was trying to find life in myself and not through him. 00:29:07.000 |
I acknowledged that he sent Jesus to die on the cross so that I can be saved from my sin and have eternal life. 00:29:14.000 |
I committed to living for God and rely on him wholly, as Isaiah 41, 13 says, 00:29:19.000 |
"For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, 'Do not fear; I will help you.' 00:29:26.000 |
Since knowing him, God showed me that being a Christian isn't about just doing good works. 00:29:31.000 |
He made it clear that I do not have to earn my salvation or his love." 00:29:35.000 |
Ephesians 2, 8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. 00:29:41.000 |
It is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. 00:29:45.000 |
He has given me fulfillment and purpose and joy." 00:29:48.000 |
I am nowhere near being a perfect Christian. I still messed up. 00:29:52.000 |
But I was reassured that God loved me despite my flaws and imperfections. 00:29:57.000 |
And when the fights and arguments at home continually make me feel alone, God has never once left me. 00:30:02.000 |
And yes, I've suffered, but through the difficult times in my life, he helped me grow in wisdom and learning to trust in him more, 00:30:09.000 |
just like how Job remained faithful and trusted God through his many sufferings. 00:30:13.000 |
He has shown himself to me in his word, the Bible. 00:30:16.000 |
God loved me even at my lowest point, and he rescued me from myself, an eternal separation from him. 00:30:24.000 |
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. 00:30:29.000 |
For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." 00:31:36.000 |
It's a reminder to us that when God saves, he saves and redeems just so thoroughly. 00:31:43.000 |
And it's hard to even know sometimes how far things go. 00:31:48.000 |
And there's so many of us who are sitting in this room who are Christians, believers, and we've been saved and redeemed thoroughly. 00:31:56.000 |
And I'm really grateful for testimonies that come in week in, week out, because it shows the extent and the reach of our God. 00:32:08.000 |
And so we're going to be going into Colossians today. 00:32:12.000 |
Before I do, I'll just kind of make a quick mention, again, if it's distracting. 00:32:16.000 |
I know these sneakers look a little bit snazzy and stuff. 00:32:20.000 |
My foot's all better, but then I have to put these on because I need the support in the shoes. 00:32:29.000 |
I've appreciated all the different thoughts and all the messages coming my way. 00:32:35.000 |
Someone made fun of me saying I'm like the sneakers and preachers. 00:32:46.000 |
Would you turn with me to Colossians 1, verse 9? 00:32:54.000 |
And even though these passages are usually up here, it is a good exercise to go into your Bibles, to go into your devices, pull up the scriptures, 00:33:04.000 |
because there are some passages that we will not hit up here. 00:33:08.000 |
So if you can turn there with me, it would be very helpful. 00:33:13.000 |
It says, "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you, 00:33:17.000 |
and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding." 00:33:25.000 |
Heavenly Father, we pray, God, for everything that is needed for us now to be unhindered. 00:33:36.000 |
And as we look upon your word, that we would hear the voice of our God. 00:33:42.000 |
Father, there are too many things that might distract, too many obstacles. 00:33:49.000 |
But Lord, would there be a surrender before we engage with you? 00:33:55.000 |
Not just by habit, again listening, but God, to hear from you. 00:34:04.000 |
To have a posture of worship, a posture of humility. 00:34:19.000 |
It's kind of a litany of questions, but they all kind of hit the same thing. 00:34:23.000 |
I'd like you to, if you can, engage with me in it and try to answer the questions, 00:34:27.000 |
or at least look into your life a little bit as I ask them. 00:34:32.000 |
Because these are questions that would require us to see. 00:34:39.000 |
And so we have to look back a little bit at our past weeks, 00:34:43.000 |
and we have to look forward a little bit to what we've been planning. 00:34:46.000 |
But here are some of the questions I wanted to ask. 00:34:48.000 |
Do you know what God wants for you in your life right now? 00:35:03.000 |
Have the decisions that you've been making, have they been pleasing to the Lord? 00:35:13.000 |
We can have the big ones with like, are we going to move? 00:35:18.000 |
Things like that, but even the small decisions. 00:35:23.000 |
Do you know what kind of words He desires for you to speak? 00:35:29.000 |
The words that you've been using, that the things that you've been saying, 00:35:38.000 |
What kind of attitude does God want you to have? 00:35:47.000 |
Are you using your time the way He wants you to use your time? 00:35:51.000 |
The gifts that He's given you, have you been using it the way He desired 00:35:58.000 |
Do you think He's been pleased with the way you've been living? 00:36:02.000 |
It's a hard question because at the end, it's not like a simple question. 00:36:08.000 |
But I wanted to also look at it from a different angle. 00:36:10.000 |
From the other angle, it's have the decisions you've been making 00:36:14.000 |
been based upon selfish desire or selfish motives? 00:36:24.000 |
Again, try to answer these questions in your life. 00:36:33.000 |
Have we been using our words recklessly, however we want to accomplish our purposes? 00:36:39.000 |
Have our attitudes been consumed by our own desires? 00:36:43.000 |
Have we been using the time to fulfill our own pleasures? 00:36:47.000 |
Have we been using the skills, gifts, and talents that God has given to us 00:36:55.000 |
In this passage that we see in Colossians 1, verse 9, 00:37:00.000 |
but the point of today's sermon is not going to be like, 00:37:04.000 |
as much as it shows us the posture and the disposition of the Christian. 00:37:12.000 |
Many times our prayers are going to function, though, as a mirror to us. 00:37:16.000 |
Because when we take a look at our prayer life, 00:37:19.000 |
it's going to show us very much about our desires and our will 00:37:26.000 |
That's why many times I think prayer can feel very expendable. 00:37:30.000 |
And the reason why it can feel very expendable is because 00:37:33.000 |
it's filled with something that's kind of a feeble or weakness, 00:37:39.000 |
a feeble heart or a weakness that comes about it. 00:37:44.000 |
we might be praying about just things that we want, 00:37:49.000 |
We give our supplications and our requests to the Lord. 00:37:56.000 |
we might be like, "Oh, what do I need God for, though? 00:38:05.000 |
"Isn't prayer meant to be giving up supplication and requests up to God?" 00:38:12.000 |
but we're also bound by an understanding what prayer actively is, aren't we? 00:38:17.000 |
We know that we don't just ask God for anything. 00:38:19.000 |
We don't ask God to just fulfill every fleshly desire that I have 00:38:26.000 |
It seems like that's been the will in my life, 00:38:28.000 |
that that's the thing that I've been pursuing. 00:38:30.000 |
I know that I can't go to God and just be like, 00:38:32.000 |
"Hey, can you give me this car? Can you give me this house?" 00:38:37.000 |
Because we also know this other thing about prayer, 00:38:40.000 |
that prayer doesn't just stop at, like, "Give him your desires and requests." 00:38:51.000 |
This prayer is an exercise of shifting our focus to what God is focused on. 00:38:58.000 |
Our prayers are meant to be this thing where we align our will and God's will, 00:39:02.000 |
and there becomes this effect where the two become one in the midst of prayer. 00:39:17.000 |
Even though we see those passages where it says, 00:39:23.000 |
that prayer isn't just relegated to that kind of heart and lifestyle. 00:39:30.000 |
to have that spiritual shadowiness about it, this mirage of spirituality, 00:39:34.000 |
and so we just go about the business of praying. 00:39:39.000 |
But today, what we're going to look at, though, is not our prayer lives again 00:39:42.000 |
as much as what Paul prayed for and how God desires us to pray, 00:39:46.000 |
because the prayers are meant to reflect something about our very hearts and our very selves. 00:39:53.000 |
And so it is that we would want what God wants. 00:39:56.000 |
That's what prayer is, wanting what God wants, 00:40:20.000 |
See what happens to your life if you answer that in the positive. 00:40:25.000 |
The decisions you've been making, the words that you've been speaking, 00:40:29.000 |
the things that you've been dwelling on, the things you've been pursuing. 00:40:34.000 |
If we wanted what God wanted, would we look like this? 00:40:48.000 |
The second is going to be the content of the prayer. 00:40:51.000 |
So the first and third bullet points are going to be very short, 00:40:53.000 |
but that second part we're going to be spending a lot of time on. 00:41:00.000 |
"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, 00:41:03.000 |
we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will." 00:41:09.000 |
Just a few things to consider and look at here. 00:41:11.000 |
One thing is we see that he prays for others, and we see this very clearly. 00:41:16.000 |
Now we know that we can spend much time praying for ourselves, 00:41:20.000 |
but he prays for others, and that's what we see. 00:41:24.000 |
but this is what's on display here in Colossians 1. 00:41:28.000 |
And he tells them actually what he's praying for. 00:41:39.000 |
And I think it should be beyond just bullet points. 00:41:43.000 |
There needs to be something about us that we care for others. 00:41:47.000 |
And just as much as I care for myself and what's going on in my life, 00:41:50.000 |
that it might cause me to pray in a certain way, 00:41:52.000 |
the way that we pray for others ought not to be too different from that actually. 00:41:58.000 |
And so it's a challenge because it shows how self-centered we can be. 00:42:03.000 |
But in these prayers that we have for others, 00:42:05.000 |
we see that he actually goes and tells them what he's praying for. 00:42:11.000 |
I think it's good for us to go to one another and say, "Hey, I've been praying for you." 00:42:18.000 |
Now, somewhere down the line, you might have been a little bit turned off by that 00:42:22.000 |
because you're like, "Oh, but I'm not really praying for them. 00:42:30.000 |
The problem is that you're not doing it, right? 00:42:43.000 |
But not only does it show in this first verse that he prays for them, 00:42:48.000 |
If you look at the beginning of Colossians 1, in verse 1, it says, 00:42:51.000 |
"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God," and he says, 00:42:57.000 |
And he says, "We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:43:02.000 |
And so when we get to verse 9, he's still in that context. 00:43:05.000 |
"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, 00:43:07.000 |
we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will." 00:43:14.000 |
that we ought to actively be praying with each other on behalf of others. 00:43:26.000 |
He shows us that this is the type of heart that he has. 00:43:29.000 |
And when he prays for them, he's praying very specifically what he believes is the most important thing to pray for them. 00:43:36.000 |
And he's praying along with Timothy, and perhaps there's other people there. 00:43:44.000 |
The reason why they're listed in the epistles is because there's a desire for us to follow along these paths. 00:43:53.000 |
So if you look at the very--at two verses before, it says, 00:43:57.000 |
"Just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond servant, 00:44:02.000 |
who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf." 00:44:07.000 |
And if you flip over to Colossians 4, verse 12, it says, 00:44:11.000 |
"Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bond slave of Jesus Christ, 00:44:15.000 |
sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, 00:44:19.000 |
that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. 00:44:22.000 |
For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis." 00:44:30.000 |
He doesn't just put Epaphras in there as a shout-out. 00:44:33.000 |
He puts Epaphras in there to show these examples of faith, 00:44:37.000 |
whereas Paul might have been a little bit removed from the Colossians, 00:44:40.000 |
Epaphras has been walking with them, and he's been there. 00:44:43.000 |
I mean, this is the Epaphras that we know about his life. 00:44:47.000 |
He was sacrificing his very life, his very well-being for these people. 00:44:53.000 |
He was clearly laboring and toiling for the churches. 00:44:57.000 |
But what's cool here is if you look very carefully at chapter 4, 00:45:01.000 |
it says that he's laboring earnestly, and it does not stop there. 00:45:05.000 |
It says he's laboring earnestly for you in his prayers. 00:45:11.000 |
Now, when we see somebody laboring and toiling for the things of God, 00:45:16.000 |
we can see people put in prep and people who are serving 00:45:20.000 |
and people who are losing sleep and all this kind of stuff. 00:45:23.000 |
Now, here he uses that same word, this idea of laboring and sweating and toiling 00:45:29.000 |
and fighting and wrestling and struggling and striving. 00:45:38.000 |
Now, this is Paul, this is Timothy, and this is Epaphras. 00:45:42.000 |
They're praying constantly for the Colossians, which brings us to the second point. 00:45:47.000 |
If they're constantly praying for these Colossians, 00:45:56.000 |
"Since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that," 00:46:01.000 |
you can highlight that word "that" because it shows you the content that's to come after, 00:46:05.000 |
"that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." 00:46:13.000 |
He says that what he's praying from the day he heard of their faith, 00:46:19.000 |
constantly, unending, unceasing, if you want to think about it in these kinds of terminologies, 00:46:27.000 |
That they may be filled with the knowledge of his will. 00:46:33.000 |
Now, there are many things that Paul could have prayed for, these Colossians. 00:46:40.000 |
He could have prayed for specific prayer requests, 00:46:42.000 |
difficulties and trials that are going on in their lives, 00:46:48.000 |
But what he prays for here, in this passage specifically, is the main idea of prayer. 00:46:56.000 |
The whole point of prayer is being displayed in his prayer for them. 00:47:00.000 |
And it is the foundation of the Christian heart. 00:47:02.000 |
It is the foundation of the Christian faith that they may be filled with the knowledge of his will. 00:47:10.000 |
Isn't that always the point and the foundation of prayer? 00:47:21.000 |
Now, we know in Matthew 6, verse 9, some of you might have already started thinking about these verses. 00:47:28.000 |
Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name." 00:47:30.000 |
And so he tells us who the person, the recipient of these prayers, who were coming before. 00:47:38.000 |
And then he tells us the heart of it, where he says, 00:47:40.000 |
"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." 00:47:44.000 |
And then he goes into these, like, "Give us this day our daily bread." 00:47:50.000 |
And there's a lot of theological points we could go into this. 00:47:52.000 |
And there's so much depth and riches in that place. 00:47:56.000 |
But how he starts it, he says, "You're praying to this Father who is in heaven. 00:48:01.000 |
And everything is under this umbrella of 'Your kingdom come, your will be done.'" 00:48:07.000 |
Not because that's how prayer is supposed to be, but that is the Christian. 00:48:14.000 |
So, therefore, that is how the prayer is supposed to be. 00:48:19.000 |
Our prayers are supposed to be matching up to what God wants. 00:48:23.000 |
Every prayer we pray, it's not just giving God our requests, 00:48:28.000 |
but desiring that our requests and desires come into alignment with his desires. 00:48:51.000 |
See, our prayer lives are so exposing of us for this reason 00:48:54.000 |
that it shows us whether we really want what God wants. 00:48:57.000 |
And so that's why I bring us back to that main question I'm trying to ask here. 00:49:07.000 |
You could be like, "Yeah," or "No," or something like that, but you have to sit there. 00:49:27.000 |
It's not simply a matter of requesting, "Okay, your kingdom come, your will be done." 00:49:32.000 |
What are the things, the bullet points that we put under this, 00:49:36.000 |
that we know this is God's kingdom, so I'm going to pray for evangelism. 00:49:43.000 |
And I'm going to pray for this thing at work, and that God would be made known here. 00:49:49.000 |
And I'm going to pray for these events that are coming up at our church. 00:49:52.000 |
We could have these bullet points of prayer, but doesn't it begin, 00:49:58.000 |
before it could come out of our mouths as our desires, 00:50:01.000 |
doesn't it need to actually be something that we desire? 00:50:07.000 |
And so if there are places in our life that we have kept away from God, 00:50:13.000 |
if there are places where there is no lordship, 00:50:16.000 |
if there are places in our life that we are actively living in disobedience, 00:50:21.000 |
how do you pray, "God, your kingdom come, your will be done"? 00:50:31.000 |
We could turn to our neighbors today if we wanted to and be like, 00:50:34.000 |
"What are your prayer requests?" And they'll say, "I've been lazy. 00:50:37.000 |
I've been unproductive, and I desire to be productive." 00:50:40.000 |
We can say all these different things that we want, 00:50:52.000 |
It's like that kind of ought to be the thing. 00:50:55.000 |
That's why when he talks about Epaphras praying, 00:50:57.000 |
he talks about it in this terminology of labor. 00:51:08.000 |
the reason why they're praying unendingly for the Colossians for this prayer request 00:51:14.000 |
is because they've been wrestling with it themselves. 00:51:21.000 |
And they know that this is the most important thing, 00:51:30.000 |
Prayer, it's wrestling and fighting and wanting ultimately what God wants, 00:51:41.000 |
are there things in your life that God wants you to stop doing? 00:51:46.000 |
There would be no problems that you have in answering that question. 00:51:57.000 |
That our desires are not actually in active alignment with his. 00:52:02.000 |
And so then our feeble prayer requests become even more feeble. 00:52:10.000 |
Otherwise, it would show in our prayers, would it not? 00:52:14.000 |
And we sit there, "If this is really what I want, 00:52:27.000 |
So if we were to genuinely, honestly ask ourselves, 00:52:33.000 |
What kind of words does he want to come out of our mouth? 00:52:35.000 |
What kind of attitude does he want me to have? 00:52:41.000 |
What kind of decisions does he want me to make? 00:52:57.000 |
You can say, "Evangelism, that's what God wants of me." 00:53:04.000 |
But it does not mean there is an alignment there. 00:53:07.000 |
It just means I know I'm supposed to do that. 00:53:13.000 |
But wanting what God wants is to imitate his heart. 00:53:19.000 |
That when I turn, evangelizing isn't just a marching order, 00:53:40.000 |
These are lofty, heavy, weighty things that God wants of me. 00:53:45.000 |
God doesn't want anything weak and feeble in me. 00:53:50.000 |
God only wants what is good and what is pure and what is perfect. 00:54:01.000 |
"Be perfect therefore as your heavenly father is perfect." 00:54:09.000 |
And so because of our weakness and feebleness does not mean 00:54:14.000 |
"We're going to try our best and live in this level." 00:54:18.000 |
We remember the lofty things because our desire are not things 00:54:34.000 |
So our prayers are lofty because we want what he wants. 00:54:42.000 |
And so we look at our lives, and we live in a pursuit of holiness. 00:54:59.000 |
Prayer gets more desperate as you see the chasm between what we know 00:55:06.000 |
that God wants and how we've been actually living in our lives. 00:55:10.000 |
And as we see that chasm, we want that to be pulled together. 00:55:17.000 |
So Paul here, his desire is for them to be filled with the knowledge 00:55:26.000 |
It's just knowing better and better just the things about what those things are, 00:55:30.000 |
that these are things I'm not supposed to say, these are things I'm not supposed 00:55:34.000 |
We can kind of list it out and be like, "Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it, 00:55:37.000 |
And then we become like the rich young ruler where Jesus looks at him and says, 00:55:43.000 |
"Sell everything that you have," because that's been the point. 00:55:47.000 |
So we look at ourselves, and how do we flesh these things out? 00:55:53.000 |
Is knowing his will something that needs to be told to me? 00:56:03.000 |
The knowing of God's will described here is actually more synonymous with what we 00:56:07.000 |
would be thinking about what it is to know him. 00:56:14.000 |
So basically, knowing, being filled with the knowledge of God is not just knowing 00:56:19.000 |
and understanding the facts of what God wants more and more. 00:56:26.000 |
It's about being in an intimate relationship with God. 00:56:29.000 |
It's about walking with God so we know his will. 00:56:36.000 |
It's like you just know a bunch of things about what he wants, and so now, 00:56:40.000 |
like I'm just kind of living out my own life, so. 00:56:43.000 |
Or the difference between that and the next thing is that we're actually walking 00:56:47.000 |
with him, and so we know his will because we know him. 00:56:53.000 |
Sorry, I got blank stares, so I needed to say that one more time. 00:56:56.000 |
If you want to think about it in this way, have you ever, like, 00:56:59.000 |
just wanted to rip your hair out because you had to buy a present for someone? 00:57:03.000 |
Like Father's Day, Mother's Day comes around. 00:57:08.000 |
I'm like, "There's been many Mother's Day and Father's Day that I've gone by. 00:57:13.000 |
So you find yourself on Google, "What do you buy, fathers?" 00:57:16.000 |
You're on Amazon, "Things that mothers like." 00:57:20.000 |
She would hate this stuff," because you don't know sometimes, right? 00:57:26.000 |
But when you know your father, something kind of changes. 00:57:29.000 |
When you've been living with them, you've been having conversations with them, right? 00:57:33.000 |
Do you guys see what I'm saying a little bit? 00:57:37.000 |
Yeah, because if we're not living with them, if we don't know their heart, 00:57:46.000 |
Many years ago, my dad, when I was in my low 20s, I know exactly what he wanted. 00:57:55.000 |
So it was a matter of replacing every gadget that he had with a new gadget, you know? 00:58:01.000 |
So we'd have to save up for months for it, you know? 00:58:04.000 |
And he'd get it, and he'd do that Korean father thing. 00:58:08.000 |
He doesn't look at it, but during the dinner, I see him constantly looking over at it like that. 00:58:15.000 |
But now, if I got him an iPad, he'd be like, "Oh, cool. Thank you." 00:58:23.000 |
He would want a $15 Shutterfly photo book filled with pictures of his grandkids. 00:58:33.000 |
Because he's in Korea right now, but he FaceTimes. 00:58:36.000 |
He FaceTimes, and then when I pick up, he says, "Get out." 00:58:44.000 |
And then when the kids come into the picture, his face lights up. 00:58:48.000 |
I'm like, "Why don't you look at me like that, you father?" 00:58:55.000 |
So he's looking at my three kids, and he's just lit up. 00:58:59.000 |
I know. You don't need to tell me what he wants. 00:59:05.000 |
So he can sit there and stare at them whenever he's not FaceTiming them. 00:59:14.000 |
Sometimes I feel like we live with God in a way that's just--we're like just Googling. 00:59:22.000 |
We just--he comes up with a list of things, and we've created some respectable list of sins. 00:59:28.000 |
We're like, "Oh, he doesn't want us to be impure. 00:59:37.000 |
This is what God wants, and there is no intimate relationship with him in those things. 00:59:42.000 |
Because if we were to walk with God and know his heart and see--it's kind of like the way you would look. 00:59:51.000 |
It's not like, "Oh, I did it. Look. I did it." 00:59:54.000 |
It's looking up at God and like, "Is he pleased?" 01:00:03.000 |
Paul, he says his desires for the Colossians to be filled with the knowledge of God's will. 01:00:08.000 |
It's actually simultaneously talking about knowing God, walking with God, in step with him, hearing from him, understanding him, loving him. 01:00:19.000 |
It's so much more than just knowing facts, because many of us already know the facts. 01:00:25.000 |
There are things in our lives where we know we ought to get rid of these things and to pursue these things, 01:00:29.000 |
but it wasn't the knowledge that was the problem. 01:00:35.000 |
So maybe it's because we're not in step with him. 01:00:38.000 |
Maybe it's because we have been removed from him that we do not see what pleases him. 01:00:46.000 |
Perhaps we have put up a shell of a picture of God, some golden calf of a God in our lives, 01:00:53.000 |
and saying, "This is who God is. Bow down and worship." 01:01:07.000 |
If God were to shoot his voice down to you right now and ask, 01:01:13.000 |
or you're talking to him and you ask him, "What do you want of me?" 01:01:18.000 |
And you look up at the Father and you say, "What do you want of me?" 01:01:24.000 |
Because I want your kingdom come. I want your will be done. 01:01:27.000 |
This is my heart. This is my desire. This is my request. 01:01:30.000 |
What do you want? What is God going to tell you? 01:01:35.000 |
Is it going to be just like, "Stop looking at those things. Stop being lazy." 01:01:44.000 |
No, he's going to say he wants a relationship with you. 01:02:00.000 |
He is not going to be sitting there going like, "Give me this. Give me that. Give me that." 01:02:15.000 |
But when we look at the unsurrendered things in our lives, 01:02:18.000 |
when we look at our desires that may not have actually changed in alignment with his desires, 01:02:23.000 |
it shows that we are lacking and not knowing factually what he wants. 01:02:28.000 |
But we're lacking many times a relationship with him. 01:02:49.000 |
I'm afraid for me. I'm afraid for us as a church 01:02:56.000 |
that that heart of what we're doing is going to be lost. 01:03:06.000 |
I think it's a really good word. I made it big. 01:03:09.000 |
He says, "We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will." 01:03:14.000 |
He doesn't just say, "We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you know his will." 01:03:21.000 |
So this "fulfilled" is a really crucial word. 01:03:27.000 |
"To cause someone to think in a particular manner, often as a means of inducing some behavior." 01:03:32.000 |
This sounds weird, but that's how it was meant to be. 01:03:34.000 |
To make think, to fill the heart, to cause, to decide. 01:03:37.000 |
This idea of fill is something so encapsulating, so deep into an individual. 01:03:45.000 |
That it's this idea and image of fulfillment or ultimate confirmation and consummation and filling. 01:03:57.000 |
It fills your very self so that your mind changes, your eyes change, 01:04:03.000 |
the way you hear changes, the things you like changes, the things you hate changes. 01:04:14.000 |
It's what happens when you see a lot of newlyweds walking around. 01:04:19.000 |
When you see newlyweds, you saw them as individuals, but now they're like this. 01:04:23.000 |
And all of a sudden, it's like, "You changed." 01:04:25.000 |
"You're not the person you used to be. You used to be cool." 01:04:29.000 |
You'll say things like that, and we're just joking. 01:04:32.000 |
It's really good to see people change in marriage, hopefully in good ways. 01:04:36.000 |
When you look at that, there's a reason why people change in marriage, right? 01:04:40.000 |
Because you love them, even to the point of physical change. 01:04:46.000 |
One person smiles, and they start smiling, and they start looking like each other 01:04:52.000 |
This person likes this, so all of a sudden, you begin liking that. 01:04:56.000 |
This person hates this, so all of a sudden, you begin hating that. 01:05:02.000 |
Transformation actually happens. Why? Because of relationship. 01:05:06.000 |
You don't sit there and go like, "Can you tell me what I'm supposed to like 01:05:17.000 |
Maybe the closest we can get is when husband comes to wife and says, 01:05:19.000 |
"Can you just tell me what you want for Christmas?" 01:05:23.000 |
"What do you want?" She's like, "You should know." 01:05:29.000 |
There's this idea being presented to us to be filled with the knowledge of His will 01:05:33.000 |
that is not just being filled with more facts. 01:05:37.000 |
2 Corinthians 5:14 says, "For the love of Christ controls us, 01:05:40.000 |
having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died." 01:05:45.000 |
"And He died for all so that they who live," and He says, "now live, 01:05:53.000 |
Death is no longer living for self, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 01:06:04.000 |
He talks about it in this vocabulary of control. 01:06:09.000 |
Some love that has so consumed that it's been compelled, 01:06:21.000 |
You don't need to sit there behind the thing and push. 01:06:29.000 |
Paul, he has this understanding where he wants the Colossians to be filled. 01:06:45.000 |
The problem is the big chasm and the gap we have between what we know 01:06:57.000 |
If you could trek back with me to the moment when you met God, 01:07:01.000 |
to that period of life where you gave up your life for Him, 01:07:06.000 |
and you said, "God, take me wherever you want. 01:07:12.000 |
I'm going to read out a series of verses here. 01:07:15.000 |
I want to remind you, these are not things that was talking about the future. 01:07:18.000 |
These were talking about the reality that came upon conversion. 01:07:27.000 |
It says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. 01:07:31.000 |
The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come." 01:07:34.000 |
And so, what that means is, everything that used to be old in my life-- 01:07:45.000 |
Matthew 16.24, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 01:07:47.000 |
'If anyone wishes to come after Me,'" and He draws the line, 01:07:51.000 |
"'if you want to follow Jesus, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.'" 01:07:55.000 |
This was--yes, there is the idea of sanctification where crucifixion is daily. 01:08:01.000 |
"'If you want to follow Me, this is what you must do. 01:08:21.000 |
The job that you wanted, the plans that you had, 01:08:24.000 |
the desires, the ambitions, the dreams, all of it, crucified. 01:08:33.000 |
Galatians 2.19, "For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God." 01:08:37.000 |
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, 01:08:42.000 |
And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, 01:08:47.000 |
When He says, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me," 01:08:56.000 |
Is this not just a daily prayer that you just stamp on at the beginning and the end of days, 01:09:08.000 |
We almost need to say it out loud, but I'm not going to make you. 01:09:13.000 |
We need to say that over and over and over again. 01:09:26.000 |
Anything that mimics and replays and looks anything like what I used to be, 01:09:36.000 |
Ephesians 4.22, "That in reference to your former manner of life, 01:09:39.000 |
you lay aside the old self which has been corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, 01:09:43.000 |
and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 01:09:45.000 |
and put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." 01:09:51.000 |
Last one, Colossians 3.3, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." 01:10:01.000 |
When you look up at Father in Heaven, you say, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, 01:10:10.000 |
There has been a merging and a melding, and as I've been walking with you, 01:10:14.000 |
it's not just the things I know I should do and shouldn't do. 01:10:18.000 |
And where I see disconnect, where I see chasm, there is prayer, 01:10:30.000 |
There are great chasms in each of us individually and between us. 01:10:40.000 |
I've been grieving a little more lately than usual, 01:10:51.000 |
not because we're all like, "Oh, God's will this, God's will that," 01:10:54.000 |
but because we really all want what God wants, 01:10:59.000 |
so much so that it will cover over a multitude of sins. 01:11:07.000 |
And we can't leave this church building and say, 01:11:09.000 |
"We're going to just try my best to do better in my Christian life." 01:11:14.000 |
It sounds so much like the hashtags, "Do better," "Be better." 01:11:26.000 |
Unity comes when we're all about God's kingdom. 01:11:35.000 |
When we look at His Word and where we see disconnect, 01:11:40.000 |
looking to see if He's pleased, if He's displeased. 01:11:46.000 |
I could tell my kids what to do and what not to do, 01:11:51.000 |
I see it so often with one of them just tattling on the other 01:11:55.000 |
and saying, "He's doing this, she's doing this." 01:11:57.000 |
The reason why I made that rule is for his good, is for her good, 01:12:01.000 |
is so that they might not be put into danger, 01:12:05.000 |
But the reason why you're uplifting and upholding the rules 01:12:17.000 |
Do we understand God's heart so that when someone is so far and away, 01:12:22.000 |
it's not just like, "Oh, my gosh, I'm so tired of walking with that person." 01:12:30.000 |
This is at the beginning of the Christian walk. 01:12:32.000 |
We have already ceded all control of our lives. 01:12:42.000 |
It's an immediate rejection of a past where self-will was everything, 01:12:45.000 |
where I was God, where I was supreme, where I sat on the throne, 01:12:49.000 |
and we live a life now where God is God, God is on the throne, 01:13:23.000 |
The whole of our lives meant to color this out. 01:13:27.000 |
Having begun where we said everything about you, God, 01:13:30.000 |
just whatever pleases you, have we begun to compromise? 01:13:42.000 |
even in His name, that we are living in different ways? 01:13:45.000 |
Have we come to church saying, "Look, I'm serving you. 01:13:54.000 |
And I hear, "That's what I fear for in the church at large, 01:13:56.000 |
the universal church, all the local churches." 01:14:01.000 |
I fear because you can use the name of God in vain, 01:14:14.000 |
Is that the only way your eyes are going to see clearly? 01:14:29.000 |
In sanctification, there's incremental growth. 01:14:37.000 |
of the Colossians in the knowledge of God's will. 01:14:41.000 |
He wants them to be filled with the knowledge of God, 01:14:46.000 |
to desire what He desires, that His commands would not be, 01:14:51.000 |
what we genuinely want as we're being transformed 01:14:59.000 |
we must not be satisfied when we see anything less 01:15:03.000 |
Our prayers can't be anything less than this. 01:15:05.000 |
Otherwise, we're at risk of praying weightless, flimsy, 01:15:12.000 |
a little bit more about God, some more facts, 01:15:34.000 |
I told you months ago, but there are just seasons 01:15:39.000 |
Like, "You look so smiley all the time, though, 01:15:58.000 |
the last sermon I did, because I saw what I was dwelling on. 01:16:04.000 |
It doesn't mean that the next day after we hear a sermon, 01:16:13.000 |
From the last time I gave a sermon on just, you know, 01:16:31.000 |
I'm not saying that we ought to be impatient with God. 01:16:45.000 |
Well, it's so important that he uses multiple words 01:16:56.000 |
He says, "Not only to be filled with the knowledge 01:16:58.000 |
"of his will," but he says, "In all spiritual wisdom." 01:17:04.000 |
not just knowing something, but doing something. 01:17:15.000 |
So it's not just knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, you know? 01:17:32.000 |
and things beginning to make sense as a result of that. 01:17:35.000 |
You know, if Christianity to us becomes a list 01:17:53.000 |
God has always desired the obedience of the heart. 01:18:04.000 |
and we don't actually desire what God desires. 01:18:06.000 |
Again, we look more like the rich young ruler 01:18:14.000 |
And Jesus says, listing out six different commands to him. 01:18:26.000 |
"Fool, don't say it. You're walking into it," you know? 01:18:47.000 |
to be filled that I might understand what he wants. 01:18:55.000 |
isn't talking about like the facets of all knowledge 01:19:03.000 |
Many times, in this understanding that is talked about, 01:19:06.000 |
like me being filled with the knowledge of God's will, 01:19:17.000 |
no understanding of why God is doing the things he's doing. 01:19:20.000 |
But the understanding and comprehension of his will 01:19:32.000 |
That's why Paul prays this for the Colossians. 01:19:48.000 |
we will go to such and such city and spend a year there 01:19:52.000 |
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. 01:19:54.000 |
You are just a vapor that appears for a little while 01:19:57.000 |
Instead, you have to say, 'If the Lord wills, 01:20:06.000 |
and now just train yourself and condition yourself to say, 01:20:13.000 |
I better stamp on the end, 'If the Lord wills.' 01:20:18.000 |
'If the Lord wills, I'm going to go to the bathroom.' 01:20:20.000 |
Because who knows, on the way to the bathroom, 01:20:24.000 |
So, 'If the Lord wills, I'm going to do that.' 01:20:26.000 |
And after I go to the bathroom, 'If the Lord wills, 01:20:36.000 |
Sometimes when people put, 'If the Lord wills' at the end, 01:20:39.000 |
I go like, 'Ooh, you've just exposed something about yourself. 01:20:42.000 |
Something about what you just said really, really mattered to you.' 01:20:46.000 |
It's talking about a disposition of the heart. 01:21:01.000 |
No, no, 'Your will be done. Your kingdom come.' 01:21:05.000 |
We look at that's the disposition of the Christian. 01:21:33.000 |
And we can't just throw that away by saying, 'Permissibility.' 01:21:42.000 |
So I don't get to watch whatever I want to watch. 01:21:48.000 |
Just because I'm hankering for some Taco Bell, 01:21:54.000 |
I don't get to just go after the girl that I want to go after. 01:21:57.000 |
I don't get to go after the job I want to go after. 01:22:00.000 |
This passage is talking so much more about engaging in business. 01:22:10.000 |
This is talking about the person who has been crucified with Christ. 01:22:13.000 |
It is no longer they who live, but Christ who lives in them. 01:22:16.000 |
This is the person who has said, 'The old has gone. The new has come.' 01:22:20.000 |
This is the person who has said, 'I have denied myself, 01:22:24.000 |
and I take up my cross, and I live for His kingdom, and I live for His purposes.' 01:22:29.000 |
And that's why, therefore, in verse 17, there at the very end, 01:22:32.000 |
it says, 'Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, 01:22:37.000 |
Because it is not a factual thing where we just sit there, 01:22:41.000 |
He says something about the disposition of somebody who lives to God's will. 01:22:48.000 |
If you know and you don't do it, you're in sin. 01:23:01.000 |
So we have to stop looking at our lives and see, 'Why am I lacking lordship?' 01:23:07.000 |
We have to look at our lives and see, 'Am I living in lordship?' 01:23:11.000 |
You don't aim lordship at this thing you're struggling with. 01:23:14.000 |
Lordship is the disposition of our hearts as Christians. 01:23:19.000 |
At every point, that's the angle we come from. 01:23:21.000 |
Not like trying to be better and do better, but this transformed person. 01:23:26.000 |
I am a person of the kingdom of God, living for His will. 01:23:34.000 |
We better not be trying to blend into this world. 01:23:45.000 |
Okay, we're not going to get into the third point, 01:23:55.000 |
The one thing I've seen over the years is the only thing that has proven is fruit. 01:24:04.000 |
Because there's all this like things that we're trying to change up in the front end, 01:24:08.000 |
but the only thing that actually displays is the fruit of the Spirit. 01:24:19.000 |
in pursuit of God and His will, has the product of that been love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 01:24:29.000 |
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Has it? 01:24:33.000 |
And don't just go like, fruit of the Spirit, good stuff. 01:24:44.000 |
And so whatever pursuit of God's will, and there are myriads of ways, 01:24:52.000 |
But if you're unsure, look to see the fruit of the Spirit. 01:24:57.000 |
Because the person who has been walking with God can't not help but come out changed. 01:25:03.000 |
And that's why there's so many people picketing. 01:25:06.000 |
You know, there's so many people saying, if you love God, then you need to do this or that, that kind of thing. 01:25:16.000 |
Stop thinking of someone else right now, please, if you are. Please. 01:25:20.000 |
We must be people who are dead set on in my life, just my life, 01:25:26.000 |
all five, ten fingers pointed back at yourself, me. 01:25:35.000 |
Have I been growing in love, patience and joy, kindness? 01:25:40.000 |
Have I been growing in gentleness and faithfulness, self-control? 01:25:45.000 |
If not, then we have to do a little bit more examination. 01:25:53.000 |
Here at Berean Community Church, we know a little bit more about the Bible than maybe the average American church. 01:26:09.000 |
I guess this would be homework for you because we're not able to get into it. 01:26:13.000 |
But all of verses 10 through 12, let's just show the slide real quick for verses 10 through 12. 01:26:23.000 |
So I just divided it up to help you see that we have the content of prayer up in verse 9. 01:26:28.000 |
And so that will show you, you know, the desired result. 01:26:32.000 |
And then he goes into four participles that tells you what that desired result is. 01:26:36.000 |
Where he says bearing fruit, increasing in the knowledge, being strengthened, giving thanks. 01:26:41.000 |
And those things, if you look at those participles and say, "I'm going to just try to produce those things," it's not going to work. 01:26:47.000 |
Those are good things that you should be looking for. 01:26:52.000 |
But the heart and the place where it grows is actually, "We have not ceased to pray for you to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will." 01:27:04.000 |
And the second homework, if I could just throw it out there, is to read the rest of Colossians. 01:27:09.000 |
Because in the book of Colossians, it shows why all of this is given to you and the beauty of this person, Christ. 01:27:18.000 |
And that there is great power given to all of us. 01:27:23.000 |
And we're not able to, "Oh, I'm so like, oh, nice. I'm so sad." 01:27:27.000 |
Because like a lot of the words here, it talks about like power. 01:27:31.000 |
It uses like a lot of repetition of like powerfully powered into the strength of the power. 01:27:35.000 |
Like that kind of, it sounds kind of like that. 01:27:38.000 |
Meaning that we should not be leaving our churches today with, with the church today with like our heads hanging. 01:27:59.000 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you and we ask that you would have your way with us. 01:28:05.000 |
Help us remember when we forget that we have already given up our lives in that place where our lives were so dark. 01:28:13.000 |
God, that we looked at you, we looked at the world. 01:28:17.000 |
Then we looked at you and then we looked at the world. 01:28:23.000 |
We only want you and the things that pertain to you. 01:28:27.000 |
And I pray, Father, that we would stop sitting in that passive state. 01:28:34.000 |
That each individual would go into their homes. 01:28:37.000 |
And that I, in the quietness of my house, would become desperate in prayer. 01:28:43.000 |
Asking you, God, for your will to be done in my life. 01:29:27.000 |
The sin that promised joy in life had led me to the grave. 01:29:36.000 |
I had no hope that you would own a rebel to your will. 01:29:46.000 |
And if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still. 01:30:07.000 |
But as I ran my hell-bound race, indifferent to the cost, 01:30:16.000 |
you looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross. 01:31:52.000 |
The strength to follow your commands could never come from me. 01:32:01.000 |
Oh, Father, use my ransom life in any way you choose. 01:32:11.000 |
And let my song forever be my only boast is you. 01:33:38.000 |
And that we would be sensitive to the spirit and his promptings. 01:33:42.000 |
The sanctifying one who in our hearts, not today, but tomorrow and the next and the next, 01:33:48.000 |
that we would not resist your will in our lives. 01:33:54.000 |
And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of our Father who is in heaven 01:34:00.000 |
and the Holy Spirit who resides within us to help us to change and to transform into 01:34:05.000 |
his will and likeness be with us all, both now and forever. 01:34:44.000 |
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. 01:35:28.000 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives.